I had the pleasure of attending the
annual meeting of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church (HSEC) in San
Antonio, Texas on 10-11 June 2013 in San Antonio, Texas.

The
Rev. Will Wauters delivered the keynote address to the Society. A
graduate of Stanford University and Church Divinity School of the Pacific,
Wauters has served churches in East Los Angeles, San Francisco, Jersey City and
Trenton in New Jersey and currently serves at Santa Fe Episcopal Church in San
Antonio. For seven years he was Chaplain and taught Religion and Ethics at the
Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. In San Antonio The Rev. Wauters (photo by Matthew
Payne)
also teaches at Haven for Hope, a transformational center for the homeless, and
is a Chaplain with the Bexar County Detention Ministries. His address, entitled
"The Borderland Cultures
Encounter the Church and a Church Gave Birth to a New Chicano Culture,"
described how the Church of the Epiphany in East Los Angeles, the oldest
standing Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, opened its doors in a new way to the
revolutionary times of the 1960's in the barrio and how both the Church and Los
Angeles culture and history were transformed by one another.

Of particular interest was the way in which
the Church of the Epiphany became a focal point of political activism among the
Chicano rights movement. Wauters charted
the leadership of Revs. Roger Wood and John Luce. Under their leadership the parish promoted
grape boycotts; hosted Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers, and the Brown
Berets; became the home of the newspaper La
Raza; and was the focal point of the height of the Chicano Moratorium in
East Los Angeles. However, I equally appreciated that Wauters
noted the way the Latino/a culture transformed this originally Anglo parish,
particularly the way in which it expresses its worship. The Church of the Epiphany has developed
unique expressions of worship with the Episcopal church, including a mariachi
masses and folklorico dancers in the liturgy. It was an eye-opening story told by an
insider of this local parish was shaped and shaped East Los Angeles and the
Chicano movement in the 1960s and 1970s.

One
of the missions of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church is to
recognize and support scholarship that furthers historical understanding of the
Anglican Communion. The Nelson R. Burr
Prize recognizes the article published in the Society's quarterly
journal, Anglican and Episcopal History,
that best exemplifies excellence and innovative scholarship in the field of
Anglican and Episcopal history. This
year Dr. Edward Bond, chair of the
Publications Committee and editor of the Society's journal announced John Wall and Zola Packman as winners of the
Burr Prize for their article entitled "Worship at Trinity Chapel," which
appeared in the June 2012 issue of the
society's journal. The selection
committee commented that Wall and
Packman's work proved
"a beautifully researched and written portrayal of the importance of
prayer book worship in the 17th century."

The
HSEC's Grants and Research Committee, chaired by the Rev. Dr. Craig Townsend,
announced that the Society would support four individuals for the next
year. Katherine Sawyer
Robinson will receive a research grant for her dissertation, entitled
"Networks of Nonconformity: A Prosopographical Examination of Early
English Presbyterianism;" David Ney will receive a research grant for his
dissertation entitled "Divine Oracles and Modern Science: Newtonianism,
Hutchinsonianism, and the Old Testament." Filmmaker Margo Guernsey will receive a grant
to support continuing research of her latest project, a documentary on the life
of Pauli Murray, lawyer, civil and women's rights activist, and Episcopal
priest. And Daniel Loss will receive a grant to further his research on the
controversy regarding liturgical reform in the 1960s and beyond to explore the
public and cultural role of the Church of England among avowed non-believers. I encourage those writing on topics related
to the way the Episcopal Church has impacted American history and religion to
look at the grants section of Society's website (under the "about"
tab):